Blizzard Reveals gamescom 2017 Schedule, Art, and Shop

Blizzard has revealed their schedule for gamescom 2017! There is one Blizzard Reveal Ceremony for all the games on 1800 CEST August 23rd--which strongly implying WoW will not be getting a massive expansion reveal. Other WoW events include the WoW European Championship Finals and 7.3 dungeon races between Nova and Set Sail for Fail.

Edit: added official announcement of Blizzard's schedule.

The gamescom website was also updated with a new art header, featuring an important member of Army of the Light from Patch 7.3:

Blizzard also revealed the gamescom shop, featuring new items like the Argus t-shirt.

Other major events include:

Cinematics Panel Discussion

Hearthstone Global Games

Blizzard Dance and Cosplay Contests

World of Warcraft European Championship

Overwatch: Making of Doomfist

Live Art with Carbot Animations

Video Games Live Concert

Also of particular note, not only will all Blizzard games have a presence on the Blizzard Main Stage, but Destiny 2 will have an event as well! This will take place Thursday afternoon at 4:30 CEST. Blizzard will also be teasing details of a Hearthstone Lich King raid, and you can read the datamined card information over at Hearthhead.

Blizzard

Blizzard is heading back to Cologne, Germany next week for gamescom 2017! The event takes place from August 22–26, and we’ll be there to put on our best show yet.We’ll kick things off by releasing a special preview video of all the playable content we’ll be showcasing at gamescom. Be sure to mark your calendar for 18:00 CEST on Monday, August 21, and head to YouTube to watch it. Subscribe to our channel to be sure you don’t miss it!At 18:00 CEST onWednesday, August 23, members of our game development teams will take to our main stage for the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony, which will be live-streamed on http://gamescom.blizzard.com.Throughout gamescom, visitors to the Blizzard booth in Hall 7 of the Koelnmesse will have the chance to play the latest content for Overwatch, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft II, StarCraft: Remastered, and Diablo III. Of course, we’ll also have some epic entertainment in store, including our Blizzard Cosplay Contest and two performances from Video Games Live—these activities and more will be viewable via live stream on the website.Our full schedule of activities is now available on http://gamescom.blizzard.com, and you’ll find an overview of each game below.

Overwatch

Visitors to the Blizzard booth will be able to experience a brand-new Overwatch map—tune in to our preview video on Monday when details will be revealed.

The world premiere of a new Overwatch animated short will take place on our main stage and via live stream during the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony on Wednesday.

We’ll be showcasing some impressive Doomfist cosplay on our main stage on Wednesday.

The German voice actors from Overwatch will be doing a live performance on Thursday.

Overwatch FX Artist Rachel Day will be presenting her work on the making of Doomfist live on Friday.

Members of the German Overwatch World Cup team will be doing an on-stage panel on Saturday.

Hearthstone

Hearthstone players can enjoy an early look at new Fireside Gathering features during gamescom, where they’ll join forces in a whole new kind of Fireside Brawl: a group raid against the Lich King.

We’ll find out which country’s players will rise above the rest as the Hearthstone Global Games Finals take place live on our Hearthstone stage on Friday and Saturday—choose your champion to win a card pack, and watch the tournament live-streamed on www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone.

To celebrate the latest expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne, gamers in Cologne will be able to grab a free frozen treat and participate in Hearthstone activities at the gamescom city festival—where the Hearthstone traveling ice cream truck will be making its final European stop on the Ice Cream Citadel tour on Friday and Saturday from 15:00-23:00.

World of Warcraft

Gamers will be able to group up with other gamescom attendees and run through a dungeon from World of Warcraft’s upcoming Patch 7.3—details about this content update will be unveiled on stage and via live stream during the Blizzard Reveal Ceremony on Wednesday.

Twelve top-ranked Arena teams will battle it out in the WoW European Championship Finals on our World of Warcraft stage from Wednesday to Saturday for a share of the $100,000 USD prize pool and the chance to compete in the WoW Arena World Championship Finals at BlizzCon later this year—watch the live stream on http://www.twitch.tv/warcraft.

Visitors to the Blizzard booth will be able to attend a live Darkmoon Faire, which will include activities like an airbrush makeup station and photo opportunities with iconic WoW statues and items.

Top European World of Warcraft guilds Nova and Set Sail For Fail will race against each other in Mythic dungeons live on stage on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Heroes of the Storm

Blizzard booth visitors will be able to get some hands-on play time with our latest Hero—details will be revealed in our Monday preview video.

Heroes of the Storm: Showdown will see community personalities and pros duking it out in live show matches on our main stage—including Team Liquid and Team Expert on Wednesday, and popular German YouTubers ApeCrime and PietSmiet on Friday.

Carbot Animations will be doing a Heroes of the Storm drawing session live on stage on Thursday.

StarCraft

Our newest co-op commander will be playable for the first time at the Blizzard booth—tune in to our preview video on Monday when details are unveiled.

StarCraft: Remastered, our recently released modernization of the classic award-winning real-time strategy game and its Brood War expansion, will also be available to play on the show floor.

Well-known StarCraft players White-Ra, iNcontroL and TLO will clash in exciting live StarCraft II and StarCraft: Remastered show matches on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Diablo III

Attendees at gamescom will be able to command legions of the risen dead and wield the dark arts with Diablo III’s Rise of the Necromancer pack, playable on PC and PlayStation 4.

We’ll also feature our famous dance contest on Friday and our cosplay contest on Saturday, as well as signing sessions, quizzes, and more on our main stage—including performances from Video Games Live on Thursday and Friday. Remember to visit http://gamescom.blizzard.com for the full schedule of activities.In addition, gamescom attendees can pick up a selection of Blizzard merchandise, including some brand-new and convention-exclusive items, at the Blizzard store in Hall 5.

Daily Live Streams

Those who can’t make it to gamescom 2017 in person will still be able to catch all the excitement via daily live streams on http://gamescom.blizzard.com. Well-known streamers will also be bringing you live action from the Blizzard booth—visit the website for details, and follow our social media channels for the latest news live from the event!

Blizzard

We can’t wait to get our geek on at gamescom 2017! If you’re headed to Cologne and are looking to celebrate your favorite Blizzard games at the show, be sure to stop by our store in Hall 5 to pick up some epic merchandise, including brand-new and convention-exclusive products.We’ll have too many items on sale to list here, so check out our merchandise showcase video to see what you’ll be able to get your hands on.Attendees won’t want to miss out on our convention exclusives, such as the Golden Soldier: 76 Cute but Deadly figurine, Illidan vs Gul’dan art print, and Carbon Fiber D.Va and Titanium Pharah Funko POP! vinyls. World of Warcraft fans will also have the chance to pick up the brand-new Argus T-shirt—available for the first time at gamescom. And if you’re interested in the upcoming D.Va and Widowmaker Overwatch statues, you can pre-order at the event.

What’s more, visitors to the Blizzard store can share their own Cute but Deadly photo on social media to receive a rare physical edition of the Overwatch Doomfist comic when paying for their order (while supplies last). Following his appearances at San Diego Comic-Con and on our gamescom stage, our Doomfist cosplayer will be on hand to pose for some epic pictures at our store from 17:00-18:00 on Thursday and 11:30-12:30 on Friday. Don’t miss out!For all the details on Blizzard at gamescom, including a full schedule of activities at our booth, head over to http://gamescom.blizzard.com.

Comments

Comment by Maelchav

Seems like announcing a new expansion now would detract from the attention people pay to the new content that's still to come. Maybe sometime after 7.3 they'll announce what's next?

Comment by Kapira

on 2017-08-17T11:30:02-05:00

Definitely expecting that next-expansion-reveal to be coming with Blizzcon, they wouldn't do it here :P

Comment by omedon666

on 2017-08-17T11:35:45-05:00

Yep, expansion announcement is dead. "Hey guys, 7.3" is the topic of Gamescom. That might seem lame to us, but again, we the ultra-informed are the minority.

Comment by apedosmil

on 2017-08-17T11:38:33-05:00

Not much room to reveal anything new, but I'd love it if they teased Blizzard's new IP that's been developing and taking members of Blizzard's other game development teams. One can only hope.

Comment by ammet123

on 2017-08-17T11:44:07-05:00

They announced 7.1 before 7.0 released. They announced 7.3 before 7.2 released. As I remember correct. Hope they going to continue this strategy. But something tells me that it really can be only on blizzcon.

Just afraid to stay on 7.3 - 7.3.5 for a year+

Comment by apedosmil

on 2017-08-17T11:50:50-05:00

They announced 7.1 before 7.0 released. They announced 7.3 before 7.2 released. As I remember correct. Hope they going to continue this strategy. But something tells me that it really can be only on blizzcon.

Just afraid to stay on 7.3 - 7.3.5 for a year+

I can imagine we could get either another pre-expansion event that'll draw us back in or some in-between content like a tiny raid if next expansion hits around August next year. I'd hope, at least, but nothing wrong with some of us taking a break from the game during that time.

Comment by serra2

on 2017-08-17T11:55:05-05:00

Poor Diablo, they barely even get a place in the play area, and no mention on the stage...

Comment by Xeneonic

on 2017-08-17T11:55:36-05:00

Just afraid to stay on 7.3 - 7.3.5 for a year+

That fear isn't unfounded because it has been like this for a long time (The content drought when they start developing the new Xpac), despite them having said that they'd want to do better this time. But they said the same when we criticized them for SoO. They promised less content droughts. But then HFC in WoD happened and we all know how that went as well.

I remain hopeful that they will prove us wrong during one of these xpacs but I'd rather play the realist and just unsub ~4 months into the raid when the new xpac is announced.

A year+ without new end-game content... I've seen it all too often.

Comment by iceman994

on 2017-08-17T12:10:53-05:00

new content not released but announce a holy new expansion. I think only new content Trailer we get.

Comment by dirtside

on 2017-08-17T12:24:30-05:00

Just afraid to stay on 7.3 - 7.3.5 for a year+

That fear isn't unfounded because it has been like this for a long time (The content drought when they start developing the new Xpac), despite them having said that they'd want to do better this time. But they said the same when we criticized them for SoO. They promised less content droughts. But then HFC in WoD happened and we all know how that went as well.

I remain hopeful that they will prove us wrong during one of these xpacs but I'd rather play the realist and just unsub ~4 months into the raid when the new xpac is announced.

A year+ without new end-game content... I've seen it all too often.Personally I'm hoping that their consistent 11-week patch release schedule since Legion started portends that they've finally got enough staff to reduce the gap. If Blizzard repeats the pattern they had with 7.1 and 7.2, where the main patch has a bolus of new content and then the raid is released the week after the next minor patch (7.3.5?), we'd see 7.3 drop on Aug 29, 7.3.5 drop on Nov 14, Antorus open up on Nov 21, and the last LFR wing (assuming there's 4 of them) open up on Jan 9. If the next expansion releases in late August, as Legion did, then there'd be a content gap of 8 months which would be about as long as the BC-Wrath gap.

But again, they've been ramping up staff for a couple of years now, and we've seen the effects of that in the amount of content Legion has. Sure, they've still got to prove that they can manage a shorter inter-expansion, not just patches, but I'm hopeful.

Comment by omedon666

on 2017-08-17T12:41:13-05:00

Just afraid to stay on 7.3 - 7.3.5 for a year+

That fear isn't unfounded because it has been like this for a long time (The content drought when they start developing the new Xpac), despite them having said that they'd want to do better this time. But they said the same when we criticized them for SoO. They promised less content droughts. But then HFC in WoD happened and we all know how that went as well.

I remain hopeful that they will prove us wrong during one of these xpacs but I'd rather play the realist and just unsub ~4 months into the raid when the new xpac is announced.

A year+ without new end-game content... I've seen it all too often.Personally I'm hoping that their consistent 11-week patch release schedule since Legion started portends that they've finally got enough staff to reduce the gap. If Blizzard repeats the pattern they had with 7.1 and 7.2, where the main patch has a bolus of new content and then the raid is released the week after the next minor patch (7.3.5?), we'd see 7.3 drop on Aug 29, 7.3.5 drop on Nov 14, Antorus open up on Nov 21, and the last LFR wing (assuming there's 4 of them) open up on Jan 9. If the next expansion releases in late August, as Legion did, then there'd be a content gap of 8 months which would be about as long as the BC-Wrath gap.

But again, they've been ramping up staff for a couple of years now, and we've seen the effects of that in the amount of content Legion has. Sure, they've still got to prove that they can manage a shorter inter-expansion, not just patches, but I'm hopeful.

In my opinion they took a lot of the pressure off themselves to *make sure they had* a lull (and perhaps tipped their hand at how lull-light Legion might be) when they took the "must be during legion" cap off of most artifact appearances at a recent Q+A. Before then they were almost obligated to have a lull because that ticking clock was just ridiculous for pretty much every weapon appearance in Legion, but lifting that pressure means all of the parties *hoping for* a lull because of that ticking clock are appeased. Bring on the expansion, says I!

Comment by serra2

on 2017-08-17T13:09:28-05:00

The thing people need to remember is that most of the expansion reveals were like this, a short 2-3 min video showing off the basics of the expansion. Heck, they had that for legion too

Comment by omedon666

on 2017-08-17T13:11:32-05:00

The thing people need to remember is that most of the expansion reveals were like this, a short 2-3 min video showing off the basics of the expansion. Heck, they had that for legion too

But have they done one of those while they were right in the sweet spot to say "hey here's the current thing that technically is super new right now" like 7.3 is at this moment in time?

Comment by Aketosh

on 2017-08-17T13:18:36-05:00

Seriously calling the reveal of the next expansion dead is a bit much. I still expect a trailer or teaser to appear at the end. Way to many top developers on the Warcraft team are there to just talk about 7.3(which we know everything about already)

Comment by Calcitrant

on 2017-08-17T13:24:23-05:00

now i can say "$%^& you bellular" for harping on the next expansion at gamescon train

Comment by serra2

on 2017-08-17T13:25:40-05:00

The thing people need to remember is that most of the expansion reveals were like this, a short 2-3 min video showing off the basics of the expansion. Heck, they had that for legion too

But have they done one of those while they were right in the sweet spot to say "hey here's the current thing that technically is super new right now" like 7.3 is at this moment in time?

Yes, They did so for Cata a month before ICC was even released, They did so for Pandaria shortly before the Dragon Soul patch was released, It's only been Draenor and Legion where they didn't do that, Draenor due to scheduling everything at Blizzcon, and Legion because Draenor ended in less than a year after release.

Comment by perculia

on 2017-08-17T13:29:35-05:00

Seriously calling the reveal of the next expansion dead is a bit much. I still expect a trailer or teaser to appear at the end. Way to many top developers on the Warcraft team are there to just talk about 7.3(which we know everything about already)

So I think just Ion is going from the WoW dev team, and Terran Gregory is going (there's a separate Blizz cinematics panel). For Legion I think more devs were traveling, and WoW get a separate panel. I could see Ion talking about 7.3 for part of the general Blizzard panel, but I don't think enough devs are going to field a discussion about an upcoming xpac.

Comment by Vynillin

on 2017-08-17T14:12:20-05:00

Seriously calling the reveal of the next expansion dead is a bit much. I still expect a trailer or teaser to appear at the end. Way to many top developers on the Warcraft team are there to just talk about 7.3(which we know everything about already)

The audience (online and in person) for Gamescom isn't likely to know much about 7.3, if anything. It's attendees are there for many different games from different studios.

Players like us that frequent Wowhead, MMO-C, subreddits, etc., need to take a step back now and then and get perspective. The average player of WoW's millions-plus subscribership will be new to much or all of what Blizzard will show about the patch.

And honestly, it's a lot of content. If they threw in some class-specific stuff or a BG/arena, I'd say it's basically a mini expansion.

Regular fans to sites like this one are updated daily on every data mined NPC texture change and don't have the benefit of taking it all in at once for the first time.

Comment by Vynillin

on 2017-08-17T14:15:27-05:00

Seriously calling the reveal of the next expansion dead is a bit much. I still expect a trailer or teaser to appear at the end. Way to many top developers on the Warcraft team are there to just talk about 7.3(which we know everything about already)

So I think just Ion is going from the WoW dev team, and Terran Gregory is going (there's a separate Blizz cinematics panel). For Legion I think more devs were traveling, and WoW get a separate panel. I could see Ion talking about 7.3 for part of the general Blizzard panel, but I don't think enough devs are going to field a discussion about an upcoming xpac.

If it was just dropping a 3 minute teaser and then"find out at BlizzCon," they wouldn't really need anyone there. They've...done that before haven't they? I feel like WoD was that way for some reason, and Diablo III I don't think was really discussed much at the WWI--I think discussion was saved for the following BC.

But idk. Just offering counter points because I'm bored and I refresh this site compulsively every two minutes.

Comment by chrth

on 2017-08-17T15:05:22-05:00

Poor Diablo, they barely even get a place in the play area, and no mention on the stage...